Tag Archives: Warehouse

On the face of it, mail order and internet retail have much in common. However, the ease with which customers can make purchases online has meant that latter has had far more of an impact on the way we shop for goods than the former. While mail order businesses occupied a relatively small niche, e-commerce is now the norm with thousands of businesses dispatching products to their customers every single day.

Overheads and costs

But while online retailers benefit from having fewer overheads, there are still costs associated with this way of doing business. Chief among these are shipping related costs. Every purchase must be dispatched via post or courier and this costs money. However, it’s the same for every firm. The key is to carry out the task as efficiently as possible in order to steal an advantage.

Time is money

What takes up people’s time in a warehouse? Where time can be saved, so can money. A great deal of time is spent either packaging goods or keeping records and both processes can be accelerated with the right approach.

It is important to have the right tools at your disposal. In the case of packaging, this means appropriately sized bags and boxes which are easy to fill and seal. It might take five seconds to fill one type of packaging and 10 seconds to fill another. These are seemingly insignificant amounts of time, but extrapolate that to a full working day, week or year and an extraordinary amount of time can be saved. When people know what type of packaging to use, where to find it and how to secure it, goods will fly out of the warehouse and more will be achieved.

Record keeping is of course important, but if you take advantage of modern technology, time can be saved here too. Most courier firms offer software which will allow you to print your own dispatch labels and you can then put together a system where products are associated with their tracking codes. As soon as you have printed a label, the data is recorded automatically.

Loading the van

At the end of the working day, the packages will be collected. A great deal of time can be saved here as well. If you are loading packages onto a van or wagon individually, this will be a laborious, time-consuming task. However, if you invest in appropriate equipment, it can be completed in a jiffy.

The exact equipment you need will very much depend on what you send out each day. It may be that a simple platform truck, trolley or sack truck will be sufficient, or it might be that you need a pallet truck – perhaps even a forklift. Using equipment like this will save staff time and allow them to concentrate on other tasks.

Conclusion

Many online retailers have expanded rapidly and their warehouses haven’t always kept pace with overall growth, clinging to working practices which are best suited to small operations even when shipping volumes have mushroomed. It might be worth reviewing methods to see whether greater efficiency might be achieved. Sometimes seemingly minor changes within a warehouse can lead to enormous savings, particularly when shipping is one of a business’s greatest overheads.

Ian Bagshawe encouraged his manager to invest in a pallet truck from dlhonline.co.uk and his firm found this simple move saved several hours of time each day.

If you run a business, large or small, stock control is a logistical problem that you are likely to encounter. You need to find the most effective way for your company to manage its stock, but you might be unsure how to go about doing this. Here are five easy to follow tips that if implemented will hopefully improve your business’s inventory management.

Discount Old Stock

If you find yourself with old stock left in your warehouse or stockroom, you may be struggling to come up with ways of getting rid of it. The stock is still obviously an asset for your company, you paid good money for it so you can’t just throw it away, yet it’s taking up valuable space in your stockroom. The best idea is the simplest, discount the item in question in the hope that you can shift the units quicker. Although your profit margins on the stock will be slightly smaller, you will have freed up that space in your warehouse for new stock which might sell better.

Invest in Inventory Systems

Organisation is the key to any successful business, so in this case you might want to think about investing in some inventory controlsoftware to help your company run more smoothly. The best thing about inventory control software is that it does most of the difficult work for you. Good software will allow you to merely scan through barcodes to register your stock. It will also begin to tell you when you need to re-order certain items, as well as provide you with feedback as to how quickly different items you stock are moving.

Designate an Inventory Receiver

This is especially relevant if you run a small business. As easy as it may seem to just allow the person who is nearest to the door to sign for a new delivery, this leaves everyone confused as to what stock has been delivered and when. Designate the job of inventory receiver to one of your staff, one of their tasks will now be to always sign for and make a record of any deliveries that come in. This way, if anyone has a question about stock, they’ll know exactly who to go to and better yet, your inventory receiver will always be able to answer their questions.

Manage your Levels of Stock

You need to find a good balance between having enough stock to supply your customers comfortably, whilst not having so much that you’ll find it difficult to shift. Only keeping the bare minimum in your stockroom might be cheaper and require less space, but you become very dependent on the reliability of your suppliers. Don’t take any chances; find a happy medium so you’re sure you can serve your customers well.

Locator System

If you haven’t already, you need to devise an easy way for your staff to locate certain stock within your warehouse or stockroom. Keeping particular items of stock in a fixed location will allow your staff to find what they’re looking for quickly and efficiently. Keeping your stock organised in a logical manner also means that any new employees shouldn’t have too much trouble discovering how your warehouse works. What this also allows you to do is begin to map out your warehouse, creating brilliantly efficient stock system for your staff.

You may find that your business is expanding and growing quicker than you originally thought. If this is the case then you may need some more help with storing and distributing stock. If you are currently trying to distribute and store stock on your own then it may be useful for you to think about employing a third party logistics company to your business. This way you will be able to hand over all the logistic responsibilities to them.

What Will 3PL Be Responsible For?

If you do decide to employ a 3PL (third party logistics) company to your business then you will be handing over a lot of the responsibilities concerning your stock over to them. You can ask for different services off a 3PL. You may only want to use them for warehouse storage. If this is the case then you should find out the location of the warehouse prior to signing any contract. If the location is right for you, then you will be able to store your stock in the warehouse for an agreed monthly fee.

If you believe you will need more help from your third party logistics company, then you can also employ them for your distribution needs as well. You will be able to use the 3PL to be in charge of distributing your stock to your customers. However before you decide to use them for distribution you should check that they have the correct type of transport for your goods. If you work in food manufacturing, you may need a cold storage truck to transport the goods. You may also need to transport goods by train, air or sea. Not all 3PL will offer the same services, so it is important that you look around to pick the logistic services which are right for you and your business.

Some 3PL will also offer supply chain management. This will mean that they are completely in charge of your stock management. The 3PL company will track your stock and finances. They will control what stock you have in your business and alert you when you need to order more. If you are currently struggling to keep track of what stock you have in your company and where it is going, then it is a good idea to choose a third party logistics company who can offer you supply chain management services.

Employing a 3PL to your business is a good idea, if you are struggling with controlling your stock. Having someone else in charge of your stock and distribution will give you the time to concentrate on different areas in your business.

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